


Lost in Atlantic, in the middle of nothing, except a deadly water

by Mary2442



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort/Angst, F/M, Fear of Death, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25149412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mary2442/pseuds/Mary2442
Summary: Hi everyone !A new story on Mac and Riley.A mission is going badly. They are lost and alone in the middle of a deadly ocean and the only way they found to save their lives is not guaranteed.I wrote this story on Mac and Riley (the characters are not mine), entirely but, because I am really busy in my current life, I cut it into several chapters. This will leave me more time to correct it properly.I hope you will like it !Enjoy your reading !
Relationships: Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 46





	1. It wasn't planned

“Turn right at the next intersection and straightforward until you are able to see the sea.”, Matty lead them into the coms.

Riley turns right and accelerated in the long straight line. 

They are in Africa, and all Mac was able to see, was sand and desert. Some huge trees overlook the roads and the heat is so hot that Mac and Riley can feel they sweat flow on their skin. Riley, grip the steering wheel with her sweaty hands to maintain the car on the road despite the stones and holes which slow them down.

In the last four weeks, America and Europe had declared several hundred people missing. All of them were visiting the extreme south of Nigeria.   
A strongly discouraged area to go on holiday.   
After some researches, Matty had found that people, who were missing, received a call telling them that they won a holiday all free paid. They accepted.   
At first, Mac didn't understand why people accepted to go to a dangerous area in Afrique without asking questions.   
Then, he saw the flyer and got it. It promised a luxury villa, fully equipped, on the edge of turquoise water, safari and scuba diving in huge and beautiful areas. People who don't know Africa and can't travel don't ask any question, and Mac could understand that.

Problem : they all vanished at the moment they exited the airport.

Their Intel said that the persons were kidnaped by human traffickers for their organs and that they enslaves them in diamond and oil mines further east of Africa.  
Later, Riley had found with satellite, some cargos without clearance, docking in a clandestine harbor.

“Okay Matty, we have a cargo in visual.”, Riley announced, slowing down the car, hiding them behind a big tree.

“Yeah, but something is new, there are containers in stand by in front of it.”, Mac added.

“Effectively, it's new.”

“Riley, do you think, you could have a thermal image of the containers ?” Mac asked, facing her.

“Yes, let me a minute”. She got out her laptop from her bag-pack and started tapping.

“Wow, that's bad.”

“What did you find ?”, he leaned forward.

She turned the screen to Mac:

“There it is.”

“Okay. Matty, we have a problem, we've containers full of passengers if you know what I mean.”

“They create a new wave of kidnappings. You have to find where they will bring them.”, Matty ordered.

“Copy that”.

Mac gets out of the car and with Riley behind him, he approached the containers. 

“Hey Mac !”, Riley called him. “through there !”.

They advanced carefully without making any noise. The midday sun taping on the containers, they could feel it was burning, only by the heat which emanated from it on their way. 

“It's like a greenhouse. People in there are gonna cook like in an oven ! We have to get them out !”, Riley stopped in front of a container's door.

“No, we can't, people will be hurrying to get out and they'll make us spot, and kill every other missing people.”

“Mac,...”

“Riles, I said no”, he turned to pursue his way. He felt bad to tell her that, but they had no other choice.

Riley, hesitated a second before following Mac to climb on the biggest boat she never saw.

It was like a concrete block pitching to the rhythm of the water under it. Riley thought about what could happen if this thing were to sink. Probably, it would take them with it and they would be drowned.  
She was hiding behind a mast, thinking about how many people were here, inside the containers, which were already on the boat.   
She looked up when she heard a squeak. The crane was swaying with the hot wind, it was strange and scary.

“Riles, come on !”, Mac called her from the door providing access to the rudder.

She crossed the distance between them and sank into the room. They climbed the stairs silently and passed their head by the hallway to check if it was clear to continue. 

It was. 

“It's weird, usually when you kidnap people, you hurry, here it feels like if they are allowed to take a break, as if nothing could prevent them from doing this”, Mac pointed out.

“Yeah, do you noticed, it feel like abandoned ?”

“Matty do you think they know we're coming for them ?”

“I don't know guys, the satellite passed hours ago, I can't tell you if this is normal, but stay on your guard.”. She was anxious, Mac could tell.

They sank into the control room and closed the door behind them.  
Mac put an emitter under the dashboard and joined Riley, focusing on the map stuck on the back wall.

“Matty we have a map in front of us, but it's not land and sea. There is some red and yellow points and curves and pictograms”, Riley described while Mac came and stand near at her left. She turned to him, asking silently if he had any idea of what that could represent.

He slightly tilts his head to the side, proof that he had an idea on the question.

“It's unusual.”, he started before heading to the map to follow the different lines with his fingers. “It's a mix between several maps, a little geological, isochronous, lithological and topographic here.”, he added, showing at the same time the characteristics of each.

“Okay, I imagine that is bad news.” Riley said without exactly knowing what all these maps were. 

Just because of Mac face, she could tell it was worse than what she thought.   
They sent pictures to Matty to help the team at the Phoenix, to find the spot where bad guys brought the missing people.

“We should get out of this, you know, I don't want to be here when the men will come back.”, Riley confessed.

“You're right, let's go.”

All of sudden, Mac and Riley were thrown against the wall on their left. Mac hit it violently, a wave of pain explodes in his shoulder and his left ribs, but he ignored it and caught Riley rapidly to prevent her from being hurt. She collapsed into him and he groaned feeling his back sink into the wall.

“Are you okay ?” asked Riley, angst readable on her face, when she looked up at him.

“Yeah, you ?”

“Yes, thank you.”, she withdrew, slowly, from his embrace. “What was that ?”

Mac frowned and looked through the window, before he looked down at the navigation instruments.

“That's worse”, he whispered angst in his breath.

“How worse ?”, asked Matty, while Riley was processing the elements.

“We just cast off the mooring lines.” Mac announced in a tone which froze Riley's blood.

She felt her spine shiver. 

“Okay, Matty, you have to send a team to bring the containers always on earth or people are going to die.”

“It's in process.”

“We gonna loose contact with you in a minute or two, I stuck an emitter on the boat so you will be able to trace us.”

After that, there were some sizzles into the coms and Mac and Riley had just the time to hear Matty approved that they were definitely alone.


	2. We need a plan !

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone !
> 
> The second chapter is here !
> 
> Hope you will like it !
> 
> Enjoy your reading :)

Riley looked at Mac, searching for a brilliant idea he always has.

“I think it's time to improvise”, he smiled at her.

“Yeah, any idea ?”

“Kinda”, he smiled proudly at her, “ first of all, we have to find the crew, there is no radio here to communicate, it could help us to communicate with Matty.”

“Yes, how the boat can be in motion if there is no one here except us ?”

“Everything is strange on this mission. Do you think they can control the boat remotely ?”, Mac murmured worriedly.

“ Theoretically it's a possibility”, she thought about it, staring off into the void.

“But ?”, Mac tried to bring her back to the reality, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts:

“But not here, not without equipment, and basement and other expensive stuff. I'm practically sure they don't have the money for that.”

“So, where are they ?”

“I have no clue. Maybe there is another control room.”

“That well thought !”, he congratulated her.

He hurried to the only door in the room, grabbing her hand on his way to bring her with him. They went down the stair and Mac open a hatch in the floor as if he was living here.

“How did you-”

“I was a dorky kid, don't ask.”

She smiled at him and took the hand, he proposed her to help her going down the ladder. It was dark and cold. She shivered, but had no idea because of what.   
Mac kept her hand in his, while they were crossing the hallway of the hold of the boat. She let him did; because having his hand in hers, reminded her that she wasn't alone, that she wasn't dreaming and, especially, that he was there to guide her through the shadows.   
Without him, she was persuaded that she would have already been lost and would be in a corner against a wall crying and completely terrorized.   
She tighter her grip around his hand and he squeezed it back to let her know he was there.  
Mac stopped in front of a door, under which, he could see light.   
He grabbed Riley wrist, then elbow to keep her near from him. That she once had been between him and the wall, next to the door, he listened carefully. People were there, with them, on this ship and judging by the voices he could hear, they were at least ten.

He grabbed Riley by her waist, to lead her more deeply in the corridor. They stopped at another door and listened carefully. It was quiet. 

“It's not normal, it's the engine room.”, Mac said in a silent whisper.

“Do you think they stopped the ship in the middle of the ocean ?”, Riley asked as quietly as possible in his ear. 

She felt her heart racing in her chest.  
Mac thought about it. Why would they do that ? Then he remembered something he had read somewhere. The sailors cut the engines before crossing storms to let the sea attract them and to save fuel.   
He tried to see Riley face, but he could only see the contours of her body.

“We are heading straight for a storm.”

“What ?”, Riley gulped. She heard nothing more, except her blood flow increase.

She tighter her grip around Mac wrist.  
He felt her angst and put a hand on her shoulder. 

“It's okay Riles, we gonna figure it out a solution, together like always, stay with me okay ?”

She answered nothing, but he felt her nod. 

When they ended to climb the ladder, Mac closed the hatch after her. He looked through the window, unconsciously, and saw a guard. He grabbed Riley's hand, then guided her to a small rectangular room, where he spotted rapidly a big furniture to block the door. 

“What's happening ?”, she asked, confused.

“They make rounds !”

“Why ? are they worried about health of the people they locked in containers, I don't think so !”, she said wryly, she was pissed.

Riley, advanced more deeply into the room. From the window, she could observe all the containers.   
She felt her throat tightened at the idea that hundreds people were currently, probably, in panic, thinking to sail towards a certain death.   
Riley also saw propellers, probably that a helicopter was placed in a reserved area to allow the crew to flee if it was necessary.   
She thought of their escape and how Mac could certainly pilot it, to get them out of this mess. 

Mechanically, she placed a hand on the window as if she could touch her freedom. Yet, they couldn't leave, all these people down there needed them. They needed a plan.

She turned to Mac who was trying to block the door with a piece of steel furniture. She frowned, maybe he was tired ? 

“Mac, are you okay ?”

“Yeeeeaaahh” he huffed in the effort. 

The furniture hardly moved.

“Mac, if this thing is there, I'm pretty sure it's because of its weight. You know, it sits heavily, so as not to wander around the cabin during storms.”, she smiled at him, but it rapidly faded-away when she remembered that was exactly what awaited them.

Her body trembled harshly during a second before she took a deep breath. She turned again to the window and saw the black and flashing clouds coming closer. 

“Don't worry, a ship like this is made to withstand bad weather.”, Mac tried to comfort her, standing near her.

She looked at him with a worried face, but tried to hide it.

“Is the door safe, captain ?”, she asked wryly. 

“Yes, sailor !”

“Perfect, now what are we doing captain ?”, she looked like she was good and ready to do battle.

“We're going to face the storm coming and bring all its passengers back to the mainland, sailor !”, he said with an enthusiastic tone.

Riley lost her steady a second, but gathered her together in the next:

“Mac-”, she stopped here and looked at her feet, ashamed.

“Yes, Riles ?”, Mac encouraged her, moving toward her.

“I'm scared”, she sniffed, “How do you handle this without being afraid ?”

“Don't believe that, I'm completely freaking out ! I just thought that if I hid it, well, you will handle it easily. Stress call stress and panic is not helping in this kind of situation.”

She raised her head with eyes full of tears. She blinked and it rolled on her cheek.

“Riles, hey, it's okay. We gonna be fine.”, he told her, putting a hand on each of her shoulders.

She answered nothing and let her head leaning on Mac chest. He passed a hand on her hair and made circles on her back. 

“Riles, I promise you, everything's gonna be-”

“Mac, please, don't make any promises that you will not capable to keep.”

“I promise you that together we gonna find a way to survive to this.”

Finally, she couldn't help herself and circle her arms around his waist to squeeze his body against hers the harder that she was able to do, crying all her emotional stress. Mac hold her tight, and kissed the top of her head, letting some tears escaped his eyes, while she was crying softly in the crook of his neck.

After a minute or two, she couldn't tell, she parted from him. She felt better, she needed to clear out all the angst and tension she had accumulated in the previous hour, before it paralyzed her.

“Are you better ?”, Mac wiped a tear away from his own cheek.

“Yes, I am sorry”, she laughed slowly, sniffing. 

“No problem. Honestly, I think I needed it too”, he laughed frankly. 

“Where are we ?”, she looked around her.

The room of about twelve square meters was clean, no furniture except the one Mac succeed to move against the door to prevent an intruder from killing them, she supposed. All the wall were white except the glass wall, she looked through several minutes before.

“I think we are on the rest room, the captain needs a room to rest near the control room. Usually there are some bed or hammock, maybe a sofa and a TV, video games etcetera.”

“Okay, so what do we do ? We stay here for days and wait, hoping that they'll don't find us, and that we'll don't starve or dehydrated ?”

“Yep, I never said it was a brilliant plan”, a smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

“Okay, let's do that, at any rate, we are out of idea and our moves are restricted.”

“Yes, we gonna improvise in due course.”, he walked toward the glass wall, “wait a minute, they have a helicopter ?”

“Yeah, but we can't leave, Mac”

“I don't want to leave all these people either Riles but,”, he paused here a second passing a hand in his hair, “but it could have a radio. The only radio we can use without too much risk to die in the process.”

“If we can approach the craft. Now that we know that they make rounds, it looks complicated”, she pointed out.

“We have to observe them, to understand the schedule of their rounds.”

“Okay, I take the first hour.”, Riley proposed.

“Let's do this”, he let himself slip against the wall and sit at Riley feet.

She put her forearms on the windowsill and put her chin on her hands.

“Be careful they can see you”, Mac warned softly.

“Oh, sorry.”, she walked away from the window and sit on the furniture against the door. 

From that moment, they took turns to watch the guard.   
Mac had found a fridge with water and some snacks in an adjoining room, plus two little makeshift mattress.

Twenty hours later, the sea started to be really eventful and the tremors made the whole boat tremble.  
They could hear things broken in another room.   
Mac got up and looked from the window:

“According to their schedule that we have identified, it's now or never. In less than an hour we gonna enter into the heart of the storm, and we can no longer go out without risking of being swept away by a wave.”

“I thought you said that this ship is built to resist ?”

“It is, but in Atlantic the waves can be up to thirty six meters high.”

Riley opened her eyes wide. 

“Okay, we go now.”, she affirmed.

They get out of the room and exit the crew premises. Outside it was cold and wet, some water was meandered on the deck of the ship.

The waves which came in contact violently with the boat sent liter of water to the deck each time. It flows through the hatches, but about three inches of water stagnated on the boat.  
They crossed the entire length of the ship, up to its end, along the containers filled with people who were screaming on the top of their lungs, completely panicked.   
Mac's heart tightens. When he turned to check if Riley was following him, she was crying. She nodded to him not to ask the question. He took her hand and they walked toward the device door and grabbed the radio. He tweaked a few buttons and wires before bringing the microphone to his mouth.   
Riley watched him helplessly, shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempted to warming herself up, her hair flying around her in a mess.

“It doesn't work. The storm creates interferences.”, Mac yelled to her, so she could hear him.

“So what's th-”

She'll never finish this sentence because Mac jumped on her to protect her from a bullet which she saw passed half an inch from Mac's head.   
Suddenly, she had a feeling of being sickened when she saw a trickle of blood running down his face.   
He pulled her behind a container and she ran a hand through his hair to see how much he was bleeding.  
She removed her hand and showed it to Mac. 

“You are hurt”

“No, it's nothing, I'm good, it's just mix with water.”, he ran a hand on his hair and showed it to her. “You see, nothing now”.

She didn't have time to argue that there was ten men surrounded them. 

“Who are you ?!”, yelled a man at their right.

None of them answered. 

“Catch them !”, another man yelled, and the whole group of human trafficker approached them.

The waves were getting bigger and the ship was swaying dangerously. In addition, the immense waves passed overboard and at times submerged the containers which were on the edge. The gusts of winds were violent and Riley was persuaded that her body would fly away soon.

Several men fell on the ground, but Mac and Riley had no escape and fight was not a solution. So, they let the men catch them.   
What was not planned, is the diabolical, silly and insane idea, that the man in charge had:

“Get them inside the helicopter, we're going to go on a little trip.”, he said in a fierce way.

Riley felt her heart stopped and Mac's blood froze in his veins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading !
> 
> I hope you liked it !
> 
> If you have any comments or advices, please, let me know :)
> 
> The third chapter is coming on Tuesday :)


	3. In the middle of the ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone !
> 
> The third chapter is here ! I hope you'll like it :)
> 
> Enjoy your reading !

“No, this is insane ! A helicopter can't fly by this weather.”

“Not my problem. Embark them !”, ordered the man who seemed to be the leader.

“You gonna lose your life as we will.”, Mac pointed out, while the man forced him to climb on board.

“Who said I was coming with you”, he answered this a satisfied air, closing the door of the helicopter.

“Mac !”, Riley screamed.

He looked at her, but said nothing. They were going to die, there was no way out.

The helicopter was stirred dangerously as he flew away from the ship. Mac and Riley tightened their grip around everything solid they found. The storm was destructive and Mac was surprised to be still alive at this time.  
Two men were sitting at the command and two others were in front of them, back to their coworkers.

The air holes made Riley's heart jump in her chest; Mac had the same feeling and linked it to the sensation you have when you do an attraction in an amusement park when it go up and down and your stomach and heart go with the flow.  
Added to that, the angst to an imminent death and you have the feeling against which Riley and Mac were fighting. 

The black man, in front of Mac, slid the right door and started to question them:

“Who are you ?”  
No answer.

“Who do you work for ?”

No answer.

“Why were you on this boat ?”

No answer.

“Who knows you are here ?”

No answer.

“What do you know about what we do here ?”

No answer.

“Did you send information to your commandant ?”, the man started to lose patience.

No answer.

All Riley could think about, was the monstrous waves beneath her, the raging sea and the wind, which rushed violently into the device making a thud noise. 

Mac was near the wide open door, there was so much wind that he was having trouble breathing, yet, for nothing in the world he would have given Riley his place. He would rather not being more able to breath than putting her in an imminent death position.  
In an air hole, he clung to the seat and turned to Riley. She clung with all her strength to the metal bar above her, her eyes were closed, her teeth clenched and she was breathing quickly.

The black man looked at his coworker and the other man nodded. 

It wasn't a good sign.

Riley became pale and Mac felt his breath stuck in his throat. They looked at each other knowing that the next minutes would be decisive and potentially deadly.

At this exact moment, both of them thought on their personal way:

Riley imagined that it could be less anxious and hurting to be crushed by the blades of the helicopter than to be swallowed by the ocean. 

Mac, thought as he always does. He was looking for a way to contact Matty. If they could take the control of the machine, he will have to contact the ground. He visualized on the ceiling, the cables of the device, making it possible to send distress signals and radar waves to contact people on the ground.  
He found it rapidly and followed it with his eyes until its extremity.  
Fortunately, the extremity was on his back. He passed his hand behind him and snatched the wires out of the control panel without the two men saw it.  
He tried to hack something, but he hadn't time because the man in front of Riley, catch her and threatened :

“Okay, we change tactics !”, Riley was struggling in his arms, “you” the guard pointed his finger in Mac direction, “you will answer our questions or she will make a splash.”, he smiled meanly.

“So, who are you ?”, the man in front of Mac asked.

“ Don-”, Riley tried to talk to Mac, but the man put a hand on her mouth and hit her in the stomach with a baton. 

She folded in half, tears coming back and she felt something inside her body break.  
Mac caught her hand and hold it tighter as if he could take her pain. She returned the gesture, trying to expel the pain into it.

“If you touch her again, I swear-”, Mac started, but the white man punched him in the face and the other open wide the second door facing the first.  
“I repeat, answer the question or I threw her in the ocean.”, he threatened, with a cold tone.

Mac looked at him, then at Riley laying there in the arms of this bastard. He had two choices:

a) answer the men's questions, hoping that they'll keep their promises and don't throw Riley overboard 

or

b) let them throw Riley in the ocean, though, there was more chance for that to happen.

Then, he thought about all the lives he had saved by putting a GPS emitter in the cargo.  
Now he could just save his life without making at risk all the others he had already saved. How could he do that ?

The man speaking brought him back in the storm. He saw waves, maybe fifteen meters high and his heart skipped a beat. The contrast of the landscape was so disturbing that during a second Mac found himself appreciating the beauty of the storm within which he would surely die.  
The azure blue sky stopped dead in the grey and black clouds, flashing, overload with electricity. The ocean below was so stirred and dark, it seemed to touch the sky on the horizon and Mac couldn't tell where everything was starting or ending. Both of it were as deep as each other in opposite directions. The scientific part of Mac brain was too active.

“So, who are you ?”

Then, everything happened too fast:

Mac answered nothing. 

The man threw Riley overboard as promises. 

Riley screamed. 

Mac screamed Riley's name.

Mac approached the edge.

Mac saw with horror Riley disappear in the murderous ocean.  
The helicopter was going away and he was walking away from her. In less than a minute he will not be able to have her in visual anymore.  
He grabbed quickly two life jackets, in an attempted to save her in some way.

Mac's heart and lungs stoped functioning, he was going to loose her, she will die in there. Then, he decided that he desperately needed her to be alive, to survive to this and without thinking, he jumped in the black, violent, threatening, dangerous, aggressive and deadly ocean.

….........................................

Riley, land into the ocean harshly. Her full body froze at the time it sank into the cold water. At first, her head has been submerged by the ocean and it took a few second to her to start moving to rise to the surface. 

When she got to the surface, she took a deep breath.  
Her ribs made her suffer and she cried out in pain.  
She was panicking and gradually aware of her current state.  
The helicopter was faded away.  
She was alone.  
She was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in other word, in the middle of nowhere with no one to find her and at least two thousands kilometers from the coast of the nearest continent.  
The icy water burned her and gave her the impression that several million spikes were sinking into her skin.  
Her lungs also didn't appreciate being her only lifeline and at times refused the air she tried to give to it.

It was a nightmare.

All around her, there were monstrous waves of several ten of meters high and below her, more than one thousand meters deep, inhabited by sea animals which nobody knew of their existence and she especially didn't want to think about it. 

A wave of several meters high, can be ten, but she couldn't have said, lifted her even higher before she was sucked in, by the next one and therefore, fell back into a deep hole of ten meters. 

She was a cork in the middle of the ocean and it did whatever it wanted with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> I hope you liked it ! 
> 
> The last chapter is coming on Thursday and it will be more longer that the others.
> 
> Have a nice day or evening !


	4. When death comes from the depths.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone !
> 
> This is the last chapter. I hope you will like it !
> 
> Enjoy your reading !

All of a sudden, she saw, in the middle of the walls of black waves, a red object floating. Approaching it and looking more closely, she saw a head coming out of the water. 

\- “Mac”, she whispered in a breath, for herself. 

A feeling of immense joy and relief took possession of her as she swam toward him.  
It was stupid to be so happy to see him, because if he was there with her, he couldn't be more useful than she was for herself. But in another way, she felt almost safe knowing he was there. Mac has always a solution and he is the person you want to have with you, when your life is at risk.

Mac yelled her name when he turned to face her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying, because the wind and the sound of the waves crashing on themselves, made a horrible uproar.  
When he reached at her level, she was relieved, he had a life jacket so, a way to stay alive for a minute or two in this raging sea.  
But the next millisecond, she didn't understand anything anymore.  
Instead of giving her the buoy, he yelled :

“Riles, take a deep breath !”

She did.  
She always does what Mac asks without arguing even when she doesn't understand.  
But this time she had the feeling that he was doing that, more to drowned her than to save her life.  
Especially, when Mac jumped forward, catching her by her waist, while he lay on her, with all his weight dragging her underwater.  
The pain in her ribs made her wince.

She found herself upside down, under water. Mac was using one hand to keep her close against him and the other to dig deeply into the water. Riley saw a wave break above them, and a thick foam formed because of the force with which the water has been brewed.

Mac released his grip around her waist, but keep his arms floating around her. Their lungs filled with air, naturally pulled them up toward the surface. Riley took advantage, a few more seconds, of the calm and peacefulness present below, before emerging on the surface in total chaos.  
Wind, rain, waves, thunderstorm.

“Mac ! Mac !”, Riley panicked.

“Riles, it's okay”, he caught her hand and pulled her to him, “first rule in the ocean, never panic, it's not helping, you being tired, you lose strength for nothing and at the end you just sink !”

“Okay, okay”, she said, clinging to Mac.

“Second rule, never hang on, to a human, otherwise you both sink !”, he pushed Riley away, unwillingly.

He wanted to keep her close to him and the heat of their bodies could save them, but their weight will sink them more quickly.

“Just calm down. If you don't have enough strength make the plank.”, he advised.

She tipped herself on her back and feel herself better, she could breath almost normally without the water making pressure on her lungs.

“Third rule in the ocean,”, he pursued holding the life jacket, “when you see a wave about to break on itself, you have to dive under it, to not find yourself like in a washing machine.”, Mac explained, running a hand through his face and hair and spitting water out of his mouth.

“Okay. Something else ?”, Riley asked.

“Yes, these things are life jackets, in normal situation you put it on you, and it will save your life, but, in this situation if you do, you will die.”, he caught the second jacket which was floating on the waves and gave it to her. “Just hold it.”

“Why will it kill me, when it's supposed to save me ?”, she held it on her belly as Mac asked. It helped her to stay on the surface.

“Because the first role of this, is to keep you above the water, but if a wave crash on you, you have to go under it, if you don't want-”

“The washing machine,... I know. Okay. I will drop it if it's necessary”, she understood.

“Great, and sink as deeply as you can into the water.”

She had understood, but, even if she had him, they were in the middle of nothing and she was pretty sure that even with two life jackets Mac couldn't do anything. Yet, he didn't seem stressed.

“Mac, are we going to die ?”, she dared to ask.

“No.”

She sank her feet into the water to be in a straight position and faced him.

“You have a plan ?”

“Yep.”

Yep. That's it ! They were lost, about to die and he had a plan that he didn't share ?! What was wrong with him !

“And you said nothing ?!” she screamed at him.

“I was trying to help you relax, remember ?”

“It would help, if you had told me you had a plan !”

“I didn't have one five minutes ago” 

“Mac, tell me what's the plan !”

“It's crazy”

“Mac, we work together for three years now, the fact that you have crazy plans in that kind of situations, is the reason why I always felt safe in mission and that's why I accepted to stay at the Phoenix foundation at the beginning.”

He looked at her surprised and smiled:

“ Okay, well, this one is crazy even for me”

“And I pretty sure, this is why I fell in love with you.”, she blurted out. 

She didn't know why this was coming out now, maybe too much salt in a human body can have similar effects to those of drugs and alcohol. She suddenly felt ashamed and looked at her feet she couldn't see in the black, deep, ocean, increasing her arms movements to keep herself out of the water.  
She felt her face heat a little, she was perfectly aware that Mac was looking at her.

A wave took them apart and they met each other in the hole between two others. The clouds above them cracked and threatened them with flashes.

Mac looked at her, baffled and stunned.

“Forget that !”, Riley said hastily, seeing Mac's reaction.

“I'm sorry, I can't.”, he pushed with his legs to stay on the surface, “Riley, I love you since we get the team back together.”

Riley blocked, but Mac could tell that it wasn't because he just disclosed his feeling for her.

“Riles ? Are you feeling great ?”

“Mac, the,...., the wave. Behind you !”, Riley warned him, raising her eyes to follow the growing wave.

Mac turned around and face it.  
She was huge, maybe eleven meters and it was sucking up them to it. At the top, some foam started to form.

“Riley don't forget, you drop the buoy, sink as deeply as you can and stayed down there until you be able to see a hole at the surface.”

“Mac”, she huffed. She started to panic trying to escape without succeeded.

“I know you can do it, Riles !”

She was lost in her angst, looking at the monstrous wave which was growing, absorbing more and more water, including Mac and Riley.

“Riley !”

Mac voice, projected her out of her fear and she sank into the water.  
Problem, she never knew when she had to get out.  
During maybe ten seconds, she was absolutely persuaded that she will die.  
But suddenly, she felt Mac hand grabbing her wrist and pulled her up. 

She breathed harshly when she emerged. 

“Oh god !”, Mac huffed.

“Tell me your plan is going to get us out of here quickly.”, Riley begged, choking with the water running down her face.

“Not really”

Gusts of wind sent water whipped their face and lightning were streaking the black sky.

“What's the plan”, she asked, pushing hard on her legs to keep her face out of the water.

The constant mixing of their bodies in the water began to make them nauseous.

“Okay, you saw that”

“Your watch ?”

“Yes, my father's watch.”

“Yes ?”

“Military watches have a distress beacon inside it.”

“We are in the middle of a storm, which is in the middle of an ocean, who do you want who can hear us ?”

“That's the point ! These emergency locator transmitters, transmit the signals to all the devices passing through it's emission rays.”

“A satellite ?”

“I don't know for the satellite, but, plane, boat, cargo, aircraft carrier, space rocket, etcetera. These are all devices that can pick up the signal and relay it to the land to give our position.”

“So, your plan is to hope that someone in a plane or spaceship hear our signal and gently report it to someone on a continent ?”

“Riley, all the planes and other devices have a procedure for that situation. It's on purpose.”

“Okay, so how many times do you think we have to wait before someone capture our signal ?”

“I have no idea...”, he looked at her sorry.

“Do you activate it yet ?”

“I did, at the moment I had the idea...”, he was aware of the nonsense of the situation. There was so little chance.

A tear rolled down Riley's cheek and Mac felt sick.

“How many times do we have before we just sink ?”

“Perhaps eight hours, after that, dehydration or just the lack of strength, gonna get us.”

Both of them stayed quiet, but they both thought that they have more chance to die, rather than to be rescued.

…...............................................

It was an hour now, that they were fighting against the ocean and the storm was more violent every minute. Their life gilet had vanished into the infinity of the ocean half an hour ago and they had more difficulties now to stay at the surface.

“Mac, I can't hold more longer, be honest, no boat will risk his crew in this storm to save us.” , Riley huffed, exhausted.

They were diving under all the waves now and they almost hadn't the time anymore to take their breath between two apnea.  
Mac looked Riley take yet another wave in the face. She spat the water out of her lungs. She didn't complain, just suffered.  
Mac breath was short and jerky.  
He couldn't tell her but, she was right, it would be a cemetery for all the ships which would tried to enter it and they wouldn't hold out much longer.  
Being submerged in water wasn't comfortable for the lungs and the pressure around their body was so high that their started to feel sick.  
Yet again, they plunged under a wave and barely came to the surface.  
Mac was about to topple his body on the back: 

“Aaaaaahhh, Mac ! Mac ! Maaaaaaacccc !”, Riley yelled, completely panicked.

He stopped himself and turned to Riley. She was doing circles on herself, stirring the water that surrounded her, as if she was digging in the sand. He swam to her quickly.  
They were separate from, maybe four meters, but it feels like a mile for Mac.  
When he arrived at her level, she was very agitated and screaming incomprehensible things.

“Riles, calm down, what's happening ?”

“Something touched me !”

“Riles, without wanting to-”, a wave passed them, “scare you, there is 8 486 meters between us and the bottom of the ocean.”

Riley took a deep breath and calm herself. She started to topple herself on her back to recover strength, but before she launch herself backward, a big shadow passed under them. 

“Mac !”, she screamed, completely panicked.

“I see”, he was freaking out.

“Mac, tell me the scientists proved that the Megalodon no longer exist nowadays !”, tears rolled on her cheek to end in the infinity of the ocean.

“Yes, they did...”

“So, what is it ?”

“I don't know Riles.”, he had absolutely no idea what it could be, just something huge swimming under their feet. 

“Mac it's under us and it's doesn't move, Mac, please ! We gonna die, oh my god, please !”, she sobbed. 

Mac grabbed Riley's hand and looked at the enormous things that was treading under their feet.  
He tighter his grip around her hand when the animal started moving away.  
Then, they saw it turning around by going around them.  
They followed it with their eyes until a wave sucked them up, and that they lose sight of it about thirty seconds. When, it reappeared, they both screamed and Riley crushed Mac's hand into hers. 

He didn't care.  
They were about to be devoured alive by a sea monster, living in the depths of the ocean, about ten meters long and three meters large.  
He was as scared as Riley was. In a last gesture to protect themselves, Mac grabbed Riley by her waist and hugged her desperately against him.  
She clung to him:

“I'm sorry Riles, it's my fault, I should have never jumped. I should have take the control of the helicopter, I should have- ”, he was regretful.

“Mac, don't !”, she stuck her head on his chest and closed her eyes, while the thing approached them.

Riley was concentrating on the beating heart of Mac. That was filling her whole attention. She no longer hears the storm or the rumble of the waves which surged around them. She was like in a bubble, locked up with Mac and about to end up deep in the ocean, dead-alive.  
She wondered what would happen if the thing did not take the time to chew them before swallowing them. How long can we stay alive in the body of an animal of this size ?  
Her body was shaking violently and she squeezed Mac harder, wiggling her legs faster so as not to sink.

“No, no, no, no, please !”, she whispered in a loop, crying. Eyes closed to not being able to see the death coming closer.

Mac could hear Riley chattering teeth, was it the cold or the fear ? He couldn't tell.  
He felt the warmth of her body invade his. When the thing was a few meters away from them, he heard nothing except his blood rushing into his ears. He pressed his head on the top of Riley's:

“I love you.”, he whispered, a single tear rolling on his cheek, when he closed his eyes.

She tightened her grip even more on him.  
She was about to tell him that she loved him, when the animal got out of the water in a deafening noise, water flowing on either side of his body.  
She clenched her teeth and he held her tight, counting in his head in an attempt to forget the fear. In less that fifteen second it would be over.

The sound stopped and Riley thought : “calm before the storm”.

But nothing more happened.

Once at twenty, Mac had the unpleasant feeling that something was watching him. He didn't want to open his eyes.  
But nothing more was happening. No sound, no breath, just the hubbub of the storm surrounded them.

So, he opened an eye. He blanched.  
The first thing he saw was that the thing was at a meter from them. It was half on the surface as if it was stranded in water. It was following the movements of the waves as they did.  
He opened his second eye, and couldn't help him but smiled.

“Riles, it's okay”

He felt her moving in his arms and release her grip around him, without letting go completely yet.

In front of them, was standing a submarine of the American fleet.  
It was rescued, not death, which was coming for them.

Both of them were relieved, even if the ocean went wild around them, trying to kill them at any the second, they felt safe.  
A minute ago, they had no idea if someone got their emergency signal and were prepared to die, and now they were facing a submarine, here to save them.

A metallic sound made itself heard and the hatch, from above of the submarine, opened.  
A man got out and smiled at them, he approached the edge of the emerged part and he motioned for them to approach.  
Mac helped Riley to climb the ladder and he climb up after her. Then, they went down into the metal box and immediately, the hatch was closed and the commandant ordered to dive at four hundred meters down deep. 

Perhaps thirty minutes later, Mac and Riley were watching around them when the shake destabilized them. It was their first time in a submarine and Mac was like a kid on a Christmas morning.  
Yet, his eyes, rapidly found Riley, who was wrapped in a blanket, her hair were wet and she was looking around her, fascinated by the submarine.

“Hey”, he came close to her.

“Hey”, she smiled weekly at him.

“Are you feeling okay ?”, he asked more to do the conversation than to really get an answer. 

He knew she was okay. He hadn't paid attention about anything around him before being sure she was all right, reheated and that her rib cage was intact.

“I'm good, considering what we just lived.”, she laughed nervously, but looked at him directly in the eyes.

He smiled and they lost themselves in their gazes.  
Then, he couldn't help himself, but thought about what they had avowed to each other in the ocean.  
He knew that it was probably because they were about to die, that she said that, but she seemed sincere, so maybe he should just ask.

She was looking at him patiently, waiting for him to say something.  
She was beautiful and smart, she was perfect and he loved her. But, he was too afraid to lose her, to ruin everything, their complicity, oh god he didn't want to loose this complicity they had.  
She already told him about anything, everything ! She trusted him with her life !  
Why did he want more ? More importantly, what did he want more ?

He had the answers on these questions and without thinking even more, he approached her, circle his arms around her and lean forward to kiss her.  
His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, he was scared that she just pushed him away and never talk to him again, at least not as they used to do it before. He had crossed a step and couldn't go back.

When his lips met hers, Riley was surprised but relieved, she was afraid that Mac never talked anymore about what they had said to each other, and just act as if nothing happened.  
It would hurt her as hell.  
She answered the kiss automatically, running her hands into his hair, her body fitting perfectly with his, when she closed the distance between them. The blanket falling at their feet.

It was soft and warm. The clean shirt Mac was wearing was as soft as his skin, and she leaned against him, pleasantly.  
Mac held her tighter, caressing her cheek and waist.  
When she caught his upper lip with her teeth, he groan gently, holding her close, smiling and looking at her with love, before moving forward to kiss her slowly with tenderness. 

He had thought about it since she had told him, months earlier, that she had a boyfriend, then Desi came and he found it more safe than to risk his friendship with Riley. For nothing in the whole wide world he would risk to loose Riley.  
However, he had promised himself that this time it was the one, he would jump, kiss her, without overthinking it, if they found a way to save their life, and got out of this deadly, with almost no exit possible, mission. 

He was kissing Riley Davis. It was turning as loop in his mind.

A man passed behind them and cleared his throat. Riley broke the kiss and blushed, apologizing. Mac looked at her and smiled genuinely at her before he released her completely.  
Then, he turned to the man.

“Thank you again for saving our life. So, where are we ?”, Mac asked.

“We are twenty four degrees, thirty two minutes and ten seconds North and forty degree, forty two minutes and thirty two seconds West. We have five hours to the boat which gonna bring you back in America and you will have forty five more hours after that on the ship to access the Florida coast. From there you will take a jet, which will bring you back in California. Your boss thought that a commercial flight would be too much. You know, you are lucky that we were in the area when planes started to report an emergency signal and spot you guys.”

“Thank you.”, Riley said, yawning, “for everything”.

“Perhaps, some rest could be great ! We will wake you up, when we join the ship. You can take our bed”, the commandant proposed.

“Yes, thank you”, Mac said, leading Riley to the door.

…..........................................

When they touched the American soil, Riley felt relieved. She squeezed Mac's hand, which she never let go since they embarked on the big ship. They had sleep in the whole travel to come here, even in the jet that Matty had spent to bring them back.  
The automatic doors of the airport open in front of them, on the people who were waiting for their family and friends with welcome signs.  
Riley spotted Bozer, running toward them. The security guard didn't succeed to arrest him and he threw himself on Mac and Riley, kissing them both at the same time:

“Never do that again, okay !”, he said, his voice full of worry and relief.

“Needless to say, that's an order !”, added Matty, hugging them too.

“I think I will stay away from the sea for a while.” Riley laughed.

“Yes, maybe the mountain could be great for our next week-end !”

“I agree !”.

She found naturally Mac's hand, and squeezed it. He looked at her, his blue gaze full of love.  
Bozer saw it and frowned, but said nothing.  
It could wait until the next morning.  
All of them left the airport to Mac's house, to spend one of their safest evening, celebrating the accomplished mission.

Bozer was in the kitchen, cooking some waffles while Mac and Riley were talking about what happened on the mission, the part where they almost died was sensible and emotional, but according to the doctor they had seen on the ship which brought them back to the land, it was important to talk about it.  
They brought up the topic of how they will handle their relation from now on, while Matty looked at them as a mom checking the good health of her children. 

Finally, Bozer brought the dinner on the terrace, and they gathered around the table.

A normal evening in their line of work, together, surrounding and supporting by each other, in Mac's home, with a good meal cooked by Bozer with love.

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading !
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter and the whole story :)
> 
> If you have some comments or advices please, let me know !
> 
> Have a nice day or evening !

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading !
> 
> I hope you liked it ! :)
> 
> If you have some comments or advices, please let me know ! 
> 
> Have a nice day or a nice evening !


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